What's the tone of the short story "The Necklace"?

The plot of
the story is ironic, but the tone is simple and straightforward. It is told by a narrator who
speaks in simple language, which leads the reader to believe this is a simple, straightforward
tale of loss and suffering. The tone reflects the superficial mind of the central character,
Mathilde Loisel, and the mind of her simple, kind-hearted husband. For example, the
self-centered Mathilde thinks the following:

She had no
clothes, no jewels, nothing. And these were the only things she loved; she felt that she was
made for them.

Mathilde's inability to see beneath the
surface of things, mirrored in the storys unreflecting tone, makes her unable to see, or even
imagine, that the glittering diamond necklace that so attracts her might be a cheap fake or that
the values it represents might equally be false. Her husband, though a good man, takes Mathilde
similarly at face value: he cannot see how shallow she is in the same way that she can't delve
beneath her superficial desire for pretty things. 

This inability to discern
the true worth of things leads the couple to pay full cost for a real diamond necklace when they
lose the necklace Mathilde has borrowed. The greatis that Mathilde finds out in the end that the
necklace she sacrificed everything to replace is a worthless piece of
paste.